Operational Reviews Operational Reviews provide an unbiased, independent evaluation of the casino’s operations. By hiring an independent third party to complete an Operational Review, the client will enjoy a fresh perspective on an operation’s efficiency, marketing programs, and internal strengths and weaknesses. The Consulting Team views Operational Reviews as a three step process. The first step is to review historical financial statements. This provides insight into capital expenditures, the amount of debt service and the property’s ability to meet its obligations, efficiency of the operation, and revenue and expense patterns. Before any improvements can be proposed, it must first be ascertained if the property is capable of supporting additional capital expense and if management is capable of managing those new assets efficiently. The second step is to conduct a site visit. This may take anywhere from five to ten days. During this time, the Consulting Team interviews every departmental manager in order to better understand their business. The interview process is treated as informal information gathering sessions in which a sense of each interviewee’s management style, knowledge of operation, and ability to complete his/her assigned tasks is fully understood. More important, the interview process allows each manager to discuss any issues or anomalies that he/she has identified but perhaps have never been given the opportunity to discuss. During the site visit, the Consulting Team also conducts focus groups with line employees. These private sessions, in which employees are given the opportunity to gripe and vent, gives the Consulting Team an understanding of which areas of the operation need further attention. Finally, members of the Consulting Team eat in the property’s restaurants, sleep in the hotel rooms and experience the casino as if they were customers. They also walk the casino floor, drink coffee in the employee dining room and walk the perimeter of the property as if they were managers. They examine the exterior landscape, the condition of the parking lot, the appearance of the carpet and the attitude of the employees. They examine the property as if they were responsible for it. A critical aspect of any Operational Review is the evaluation of the casino’s marketing programs. Does the marketing department understand who their customers and markets are and are they utilizing the proper mediums to reach them? Does the casino have a true Customer Relation Management program or is it just sending out mail? What is the casino’s player reinvestment strategy? Does the marketing team know what its player reinvestment rate is? Is the casino’s player rewards program competitive in the marketplace? Is the casino giving away more than it should? With the customer understood, management team appraised, physical property examined, marketing programs evaluated, and financial statements reviewed, it is then time to combine the first two phases into a detailed summary document that lists specific recommendations for the client. Based on the audience for the document, the Consulting Team details the strengths and weaknesses of the casino project and focuses on those aspects of particular interest to the client. Since members of Klebanow Consulting and GMA have operated numerous casinos throughout the United States and have completed Operational Reviews from both an internal and external perspective, their associates have the knowledge to effectively critique and provide guidance to improve service levels, enhance morale and improve bottom line performance. |
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